


Kennel

by ExpectedBehavior



Category: Prodigal Son (TV 2019)
Genre: Canon Compliant, Conditioning, Emotional Manipulation, Emotional/Psychological Abuse, Gen, Inner Dialogue, Triggers
Language: English
Status: Completed
Published: 2020-02-14
Updated: 2020-02-14
Packaged: 2021-02-26 22:45:50
Rating: Teen And Up Audiences
Warnings: No Archive Warnings Apply
Chapters: 1
Words: 758
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/22706650
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/ExpectedBehavior/pseuds/ExpectedBehavior
Summary: Slight expansion (Malcolm’s inner dialogue) of the stabbing scene in Episode 14, “Eye of the Needle”.
Comments: 8
Kudos: 39





	Kennel

**“COME ON, BOY!”**

Time seemed to stop. His father’s shout echoed in his head, punctuated by the pounding pulse of his own blood, the beat accelerating and rising and frankly threatening to smother him entirely. The usually-distant sound of white noise, a constant background symphony during these visits to Claremont, grew and grew to fill the space between his ears, until he felt sure that everyone around him MUST be able to hear it too.

**“COME ON, BOY!”**

Was he? A boy, that is. He wasn’t sure. He certainly wasn’t a man, that much was certain. Would a man have had the reaction he did to those three simple little words? The results were immediate — and terrifying. No. A man would have responded rationally to The Surgeon’s sudden outburst. He would have recognized the older man’s attempt to assert control and formulated a response to safely and calmly deescalate the situation. He most certainly would NOT have responded exactly the way The Surgeon wanted him to.

Perhaps he was actually an animal. His father’s pet, or would it be more accurate to say his “attack dog”? How else to explain the sudden snap of his head, the unconscious snarl curling his lips, the complete 180 degree emotional shift from sadness and fear to blood-boiling rage... all from a barked command from Martin. What creature’s behavior does that match if not a dog trained to fight? Trained to kill... Maybe he should be in another kennel just like his father’s, tied to the wall like the dangerous animal he must be. Maybe if he was on a leash too, no one else would get hurt. Like father, like son, after all...

**“COME ON, BOY!”**

_“Listen to yourself, Malcom. You’re wallowing. You’re letting him get inside your head instead of the other way around. Snap out of it, for fuck’s sake.”_

He tried to shake his head, clear his thoughts, but the outward result was more akin to a feral animal shaking its jaws to break its prey’s neck. He glanced to the right, where his mother stood transfixed by her ex-husband’s sudden outburst. She wore a confused expression, but it wasn’t directed at Malcolm and his reactions. She didn’t hear what her son did in Martin’s voice.

_“Thank God,”_ he thought.

**“COME ON, BOY!”**

Intellectually, Malcolm knew what conditioning was. He knew how easy it was to break someone’s mind and will through relatively basic (yet time-intensive) steps, then reassemble the pieces whichever way you liked. He knew how power imbalances between the subjects made the process even simpler, especially if the target subject was psychologically malleable... such as a child. Intellectually he knew all of this. It didn’t change the outcome, however. It just meant he was aware of how badly he was failing at resisting something so goddamn BASIC.

**“COME ON, BOY!”**

Three words. When did his father start using them? When did Malcolm start responding? When did this conditioning start? Was it on the camping trip? Before? After? How many times has his father said this to him? What does Martin expect to happen as a result? AND WHY CAN’T MALCOLM REMEMBER ANY OF IT??

The words seem to have finally stopped reverberating inside his skull. He looks down at his right hand, which is currently holding the ceramic weapon and currently NOT trembling. He wonders how his hand is so steady, but they feel like they’re someone else’s thoughts. His hand seems as if it’s 10 feet away and underwater. Is it the man controlling his movements, or is it the animal? Is his father inside his mind, or is he inside his father’s? The lines have blurred so much.

He looks up to meet Martin’s eyes and sees his own face staring back. When did he get so close? Jessica tries to stop his arm, but he brushes her off as casually as shrugging off one of his Armani coats. As he places the weapon’s tip against Martin’s shirt, just under his father’s/his pericardial sac, he briefly wonders if he’ll feel the point piercing his own skin as he drives it in.

_We’re the same..._

“My boy...”

He pushes. He feels nothing. The fog that had been pooling in his mind finally chokes off any rational thoughts, and he stares into the middle distance as his father bleeds out on the floor.

He wonders if he will be able to ask for books like the ones Martin has. After all, he is going to be in this kennel for a very long time.

**Author's Note:**

> This was not beta’d, I wrote it tonight in about an hour, I did not refer back to the ep to confirm details (though I’ve watched it twice now), I am not a doctor, I probably fucked everything up but I just needed to write ok 😂
> 
> Oh and the tense shift at the end is intentional
> 
> 2/14: made a minor edit (changed the last “come on boy” to “my boy”) at the end since I forgot that line was canon in the scene also
> 
> 2/14: OMG you guys I got as many hits and kudos on this fic in like 12 hours as I have on my Christmas Carol fic from 2 months ago lol. Us Prodigies are wild


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